A strange phenomenon has happened this year in Super Rugby. When faced with the proposition of facing a Kiwi side on New Zealand soil, Australian teams have conceded defeat before a whistle has been blown.
I wonder what Jake Gordon or Jed Holloway were thinking when they saw the team announced on the Thursday before the match. Would it have been better to simply forfeit and not risk injury? It was a complete mismatch only reinforced further by the Waratahs’ marketing team’s bizarre decision to highlight a key matchup being Beauden Barrett vs Ben Donaldson.
With Michael Hooper, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Lalakai Foketi and Langi Gleeson all being rested at home, the bookies set the line for the match at a whopping 24 points and from the opening whistle, it was clear the Blues were going to cover it in a canter.
The Blues forwards collected the kick-off, walked their maul 30 metres before earning a soft penalty. From there, it wasn’t a contest.
The handful of Blues supporters who showed up to watch the game are probably the same devoted fans who would show up to a trial game because that was what it ended up being.
Had the Waratahs taken a full strength side over to Eden Park, it is unlikely they would have won. But there is something deeply unsatisfying about seeing Australian sides rest their star players for the tough games and save them for the easy ones. Perhaps ANZAC weekend was the weekend to have a genuine crack at a seemingly insurmountable task.
The opposite strategy seems to be adopted by the Kiwi sides which is to rest players for the easy (Australian) games and save them for the tough Kiwi contests. Whilst a less shameful strategy, this doesn’t benefit the competition either.
In a hyper-competitive sporting landscape, Super Rugby seems to tell fans, “there are other more important things down the track to focus on.”
How can fans remain engaged in these games when they flick over to the NRL or AFL and see packed stadiums watching full-strength sides battle each other to earn those all-important points for a win?
These leagues don’t rest players at anywhere near the level of Super Rugby. The outcome of each game is critical and the teams (and fans) treat them in such a way.
It is not clear what the perfect solution is. Clearly, Australian sides need to become more competitive. The Kiwi discarded players plying their trade for Aussie sides are doing well (Taleni Seu, Charlie Gamble, Vaiolini Ekuasi) and there is opportunity there.
It benefits Australian players to win with higher quality foreign players even if it means fewer Aussie players in the teams. There are simply more good New Zealand rugby players than Australian players and we cannot expect five Australian sides to be as competitive as five New Zealand sides with no assistance.
Perhaps we start with the eight-team finals series. If the Waratahs could not coast into the finals by finishing 8th, perhaps they would have treated the Blues fixture with a bit more interest and we as fans would have provided ours.
In the meantime, surely the preference is for each team to throw everything they have at each other and see what the outcome is. We, as rugby supporters, want to give our devotion to our clubs but it is hard when, at times, the clubs do not seem as devoted to win.
Phantom
Roar Rookie
Rested players should also be rested from trainings where the biggest injuries happen.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
It's not that much difference though Brendan. Mid February to late November is over nine months and the Irish test players get more breaks. I suspect that average games per season is very similar. The feedback from kiwi players was that kiwi derbies took the most out of them - four kiwi derbies in a row was considered unsustainable during Super Rugby Aotearoa. We miss having practice against South African teams' attritional style though.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Irish though do it over 10 months. NH clubs are also starting to have shorter off seasons but have a mid pre season break as it allows players to stay in shape. Problem for ABs now is how do they adjust to a less physical season with the loss of the SA teams. Resting for resting sake seems to be what is happening now.
woodart
Roar Rookie
I think you really dont understand our rugby setup,or our country.
Tez
Roar Rookie
Agree 100% ..... no rest policy and lengthen the season so more games are played. Otherwise RS will die.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
All the sports science and all the player testimony tells us that overwork and a lack of a proper off season reduces the peaks of performance. Ireland and New Zealand know that and rest their players accordingly. The French clubs want their ten month soap opera and the national team has suffered accordingly.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
The Aussies are sick of losing and the kiwis are tired of the easy wins over weak teams. The Derbies and Brumbies games are good though.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
NPC are tiny battles. Its a semi pro league which has nearly half the players who haven't played in a professional game as a professional. If you think an NPC games is going to be as fast, physical or organised as a game like Force v Highlanders then you don't understand what a difference being a professional makes. The semis and final of SRP will be another step up but even those games will be a step below test games. The problem Oz has is not enough of the players are experiencing the mental growth that a knock out game creates infont of 30-50k.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Of which teams. I'd be fairly confident if Blues or Crusaders started having a 30% winning rate their would be less fans. We say we want all the teams to be competitive but we don't we want our team to win. ABs losing a few more games hasn't helped things for them and if half the NZ teams where in the bottom half of SRP fans would be more upset.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
After the 10 Soccer WCs only 5 nations had won the WC but it didn't include Argentina or France. Its only a matter of time and doesn't mean that are doing anything wrong. France hadn't won the u20s rugby until recently too.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
You're the one who brought the French and English up!
piru
Roar Rookie
I'm suggesting we don't need to rest players during the season. I thought I said that
woodart
Roar Rookie
thats why nz has the n.p.c. competition.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
Leinster give their players lots of rest and France have never won the World Cup!
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
I think I trust our sports scientists to know what the risks are in playing too many games in a row and how to get the team in peak condition in October. Let's not try to second guess the experts.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
That’s a fair point Brendan. The fans aren’t happy though.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
It's one uncompetitive team Micko. You have four. Get some perspective.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Scots let coaches lick when to rest their players. It's always funny to see a new coach at Glasgow or Edinburgh forget about it and then have to rest 10 players at once. They then rest 1 or 2 a week but smartly. As in you rest either 9, 10, 12 or 13 but mot all of them so the new player has experince around them.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
With loads of rest periods built in. SRP until 24 June. Rugby Championship is July. Then the teams want warm up games played before the WC which starts September. If they wanted rest weeks could of moved the RC to August. T14 final is 17 June. Warm ups start in August so 6 weeks between matches (most of the French are at Toulouse and La Rochelle who are likely to play T14 final). Why play NZ v Oz warm up Aug 5th then fly to Europe and play another game 3 weeks later.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Scots do 1 in 4 or 5 games. Never understood SR doing it. Europe had been playing 5 months before SRP even kicked off and teams like Leinster or Toulouse will finish up around the same time as SRP.